The adage “You see something new at the ballpark every day” certainly rings true after the Phillies’ shocking 4-3 loss to the Giants on Tuesday night.
Giants’ catcher Patrick Bailey crushed a deep fly ball to right-center field into the night sky towards “Triple Alley” at Oracle Park. It caromed off the high brick wall in the gap, sending Brandon Marsh on a long but wasted chase back into center field. The catcher racing around the bases slid across home safely well ahead of the relay throw, his teammates storming the field to celebrate the unlikely walk-off, a three-run home run stunning the Phillies in the middle game of the three-game series.
A rare feat
The ending of the game was shocking. Bailey, who came into the game with just one home run on the season and a .531 OPS and 16 homers in 289 career big league games, etched his name into MLB’s record books, becoming the first catcher to hit a walk-off home run in nearly a century.
Bailey’s game-winner would have been a home run in 29 of 30 MLB parks. Only his home ballpark, designed specifically to wreak havoc out in that right-center alleyway with the nooks and crannies, contained the 414-foot fly ball to continue the Phillies’ decade-long misery in San Francisco.
“I’m not sure if I’ve seen that before, an inside-the-park home run to end the game,” Rob Thomson said postgame. “It’s a difficult loss.”
Phillies rally goes for naught
It was another low-scoring affair as the Phillies’ offense continues to search for consistency. Taijuan Walker held his own through four innings, allowing just two hits, one run, two walks, with three strikeouts in a no-decision. His lone blemish was on a check swing RBI single down the left field line by Dominic Smith in the second inning to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.
The Phillies tacked on a run in the sixth courtesy of Otto Kemp’s RBI double, snapping the team’s 0-for-previous-26 drought with runners in scoring position to tie the game at 1-1.
Kyle Schwarber redeemed himself after failing to deliver with a runner at second base back in the third inning by blasting a go-ahead two-run shot into McCovey Cove in the top of the seventh for his 28th homer of the season to give the Phillies their first lead of the night.
The collective group of Walker, Tanner Banks, Max Lazar, Matt Strahm, and Daniel Robert held San Francisco to one run across 7 1/3 innings before Jordan Romano ran into trouble in the ninth.
Romano’s struggles continue
It has not been a good first season in the City of Brotherly Love for Romano. After getting the final two outs of the eighth inning, Romano went out for the ninth inning to pitch multiple innings for the first time this season. The righty got into early trouble in the ninth, allowing a leadoff double to Casey Schmitt. Wilmer Flores followed with a one-out single to put runners on the corners to set up Bailey’s improbable walk-off home run.
With the loss and blown save, Romano’s season ERA sits at 7.44. Aside from May, the righty has been unable to find consistency with his new team.
“It’s tough. Not contributing to wins, losing games like that. It’s baseball sometimes. Definitely being tested a lot this year, for sure, not pitching well. Just come back tomorrow and get back to work. There’s no time to sulk. I’m trying to figure this out and get better, but right now it’s just not really working,” Romano said on Phillies Postgame Live.
Many thought that Orion Kerkering would be available to go back-to-back nights after he threw 25 pitches during the Phil Cuzzi fiasco in the series opener and was taken out in the middle of the eighth inning, with Thomson saying after the loss on Monday that the team could have the righty available again in the series.
On the season, Kerkering has pitched in consecutive days just four times.
House of Horrors
With the loss, the Phillies have now lost 18 of their last 21 games played out in San Francisco and will look to salvage the series on Wednesday. Philadelphia has not won a series at San Francisco since 2013.
“I think we are in a good position, but I feel like there is better baseball for us to be played,” Schwarber said postgame.
“I feel like we should keep that fighting mentality. We have to hit a stretch where it feels like we are pitching great, and our hitting is going great too. That’s the dream scenario, and you try to ride that wave for as long as you can.”
Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
